Steve Fossett to launch round-the-world flight flight Salina, Kansas

Salina, Kan., may not be the center of the world, but it’s close enough for aviation adventurer Steve Fossett. The record-setting pilot plans to use the Salina airport for the beginning and end of his attempt to fly the first solo, non-stop, non-refueled circumnavigation of the earth.

Fossett will fly Scaled Composites’ Model 311, a single-engine turbofan specially designed for this mission.

The aircraft is similar to Voyager, the plane that Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager flew on their non-stop flight in the 1980s. Fossett repositioned his just-this-side-of-science-fiction aircraft from Mojave Airport in California to Kansas during the second week of January. The record attempt flight, slated for February, is, of course, dependent on weather.